Tuesday, 7 July 2015

Hey friends! As some of you may remember, last year I took a hiatus to get my life a little sorted.

Work has got me exhausted, but after that, I've got a nice vacation (wooooo Jamaica!), packing up to head back to Kingston, and then getting my university life back in order. I think, until all that chaos comes, I'm going to need to take a hiatus, which could last anywhere between a couple weeks or a couple months.

I really love blogging (both my own blog and the geek blogging community!) and don't want to have to adjust to spending any time away from it, but I have recently been running a little short on the time and inspiration needed to post multiple times a week. I have no lack of ideas for content, but I think I need to get back in touch with the things that motivate me.

In the meantime, you can still contact me by normal methods (here and on my sidebar, but twitter is probably the fastest), and when I come back-- because I actually will in a couple months max-- it will be on eightbitbracelet.

Friday, 3 July 2015

I really love this song! This version is rough because I didn't practice it as much as I should have, but I'm obsessed so I had to post something related-- and I think this song is really light and sweet.

Monday, 29 June 2015

I mean, okay, there's the obvious: we should be proud of what we are are celebrate it. But it's so much more than that.

I'm proud to say that Toronto-- my love, my city, the city that I love like a person, is home to the 4th biggest pride parade in the world. I feel like, if you are going to see any type of person, you'll find them at Toronto's pride parade. You'll find the entire spectrum of gender, of race, of creed and religion-- the wildly outgoing and the cripplingly shy, the friend and the lover, the old and the young. Ready to dance, or embrace their sexuality, or just soak in the people around them. There is only one kind of person you won't find:

That is the Unaccepting.

Toronto Pride Parade is one of the only times that everyone feels like they can be themselves. I think on some level we all understand what it's like to be afraid of being ourselves. I, for one, am very, very loud inside, whether that translates or not, because I know that sometimes I overcompensate and come off as shy. But I'm sometimes afraid of my own tendencies to say things at inappropriate times, talk too much or laugh obnoxiously loud for obnoxiously long, or, what I think is my biggest problem when I am being myself: come off as too friendly too quickly and freaking people out. I'm very forward, and sometimes abrasive.

In a similar but toned down version of how I see some people look at trans women, for example. And that look breaks my heart. Because that look can fizzle out the fire burning inside someone.

Pride is not like that. Pride is not a time to be self-conscious. There are people who have had horrible slurs hurled at them all their life and here they are, letting their true selves run wild. It encourages me to do the same, and almost inspires me. At Pride, I'm quick to embrace self-love and the love of others: to hug and compliment strangers and strike up conversation, because I know I am among people who understand. They may not know it, but they understand it.

I think some judgement comes from genuine ignorance, like racism. But I think a lot of judgement comes from inside: a person reflects their own insecurities onto others. That's why psych studies found that homophobic men are most aroused by gay porn. We repress the things in others that we feel shame for in ourselves. When we think we are being judged, we throw up walls and judge back.

The environment of Pride is different. Rather than fearing that everyone sees you the way you see yourself, you trust that everyone sees you as a person. Someone who's got fears and dreams and hopes and desires, and is just trying to get through it all their own way. Like you.

When everyone agrees to genuinely perpetuate an environment of acceptance, everyone's true colours start to bleed out out onto the pavement. Everyone is more honest, and gentler, and the world becomes so much brighter. People shine with their ideas and their values plain on their face, and the diversity is overwhelming and breathtaking.

Pride Parades, and environments like them, does this: It makes you realize that you're only seeing the colour red. And you've only really seen red for your whole life. And then it gives you a taste of the whole damn rainbow. And shows you what life would be like if you saw it in every colour. And it makes you want to be your own shade of azure, chartreuse, taupe, coral, jet black, whatever.

Thursday, 25 June 2015

Japan was amazing!! I know that this is super delayed but I've been working in an office for 10 hours a day, which is pretty exhausting, and I got a little caught up in Game of Thrones. I've mentioned before, but I visited Japan because a) I've always wanted to go and b) my parents got married there (in one of the only Catholic churches in Japan) and I finally got to see the tiny room where it happened. I didn't take pictures of that because somehow that felt disrespectful.

Ok! First impression: breakfast places sell hot strawberry milk and my sweet tooth agrees that it's one of the best things i will ever taste. I wonder if I could get that somewhere in Canada? It haunts my dreams. Seriously. I love it.

I loaded up with TONS of presents (for myself and for other people) including a Haro filled with Gundam-themed chocolate, hair products, skin products, cute little tea cups, chopsticks, candy, and tons and tons and tons of patterned tights. The big fluffy thing in the corner is a giant, round kitty plushie.

Of course, first thing I wanted to do was eat sushi (because it's one of the many things I am addicted to). We didn't get as much as I'd hoped because my mom's not wild on raw fish, but we did go to a sushi bar late one night. The sushi chefs wear rainboots because behind the bar was totally flooded with melted ice to keep the fish cold and everything, and when you order something, they put it on a ledge in front of the bar, instead of giving it to you on a plate. So cool!

It was definitely a challenge to try and communicate with the sushi chef, but he was so accommodating about it. He tried to tell us that you're supposed to eat the white stuff under the sushi and the wasabi leaves underneath, they're not just for presentation... I feel like a fool now. ^^"

We also tried blowfish at a specialty restaurant one night. You need to get certified to cut those, because if you do it wrong, it's suuuuuper poisonous. I wasn't a wild fan, though, it didn't taste like much and it was super rubbery. I mean, if anything is that hard to eat AND it's poisonous, humans were not built to eat it.

I also bought shoes that cost 200CAD, but Yen is about one 100th of that, so I am the proud owner of a reciept that says "20,000".

We visited a lot of temples over the trip, which I liked, including the Fushimi-Inari shrine (1000 gates, i think it's called?). My family and I couldn't get all the way to the top, it was so exhausting, we only saw the 200 gate shrine, I guess. (hahaha.... I know I'm not funny). But I did capture this very brief moment of emptiness!

I also went to a cat cafe, and let me tell you... like everyone else on the internet, and their grandmas who have yet to discover the internet, I love cats. But clearly, they don't love me as much-- I mean, cats don't really love anything-- plus I'm allergic, so i could only stay for like, an hour before I was sneezing everywhere. But you pay a flat fee, and you can play with them with those little mouse-toys on a stick, and they freak out over them. I wish I had a video, but they'll chase each other for that shit.

Anyway, Japan was a great time but, of course, I'm happy to be back home in Toronto! That's country #1 in the list of 3 countries I'll be visiting this summer. I'm so excited. x_x